Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v1.djvu/36

 resting in the verandah of our house during the heat of midday, by watching the variegated green, brown, and yellow ground-lizards. They would come nimbly forward, and commence grubbing with their fore feet and snouts around the roots of herbage, searching for insect larvæ. On the slightest alarm they would scamper off; their tails cocked up in the air as they waddled awkwardly away, evidently an incumbrance to them in their flight.

Next to the birds and lizards, the insects of the suburbs of Pará deserve a few remarks. The species observed in the weedy and open places, as already remarked, were generally different from those which dwell in the shades of the forest. It is worthy of notice that those species which have the widest distribution in America, and which have the closest affinity to those of the tropics of the old world, are such as occur in open sunny places near towns. The general appearance of the insects and birds belonging to such situations is very similar to that of European species. This resemblance, however, is, in many cases, one of analogy only; that is, the species are similar in size, form, and colours, but belong to widely different genera. Thus, all the small carnivorous beetles seen running along sandy pathways, look precisely like the Amaræ, those oval coppery beetles which are seen in similar situations in England. But they belong to quite another genus—namely, Selenophorus, the genus Amara being unknown in Tropical America. In butterflies, again, we saw a small species of Erycinidæ flying about low shrubs in grassy places, which was extremely similar in colours to